


Cats of Rome

by yakalskovich



Category: A Struggle for Rome - Felix Dahn
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cats, Gen, human history through feline eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 06:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12126366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yakalskovich/pseuds/yakalskovich
Summary: The feral cats of Rome have an unlikely friend in bad times





	Cats of Rome

The good times and the bad times were taking rapid turns in those years, as the cats of Rome noticed, when they had time for humans.

The first bad times had been very bad. The humans didn't have enough people food to eat, and they stopped lying about in water as they had before, and stank. The dogs didn't mind that much, but the cats did.

Not enough people food meant no scraps and tidbits for the dogs and cats any more; the cats could feed themselves, but the dogs couldn't that well. The people started eating the rats, then, which was truly unfair, as that had always been the cats' food; and some people started eating dogs and cats as well. Dogs mostly; the silly dears stayed around to be eaten. The cats didn't.

Many cats started living in the park, near the gate. Before all the gates had been closed and those other humans had started camping outside, children had played in the park, but now they didn't. It was too close to the gates, and there were rumours that sometimes the children didn't get home but were caught and eaten, but among the cats, that was universally hooted down.

And then one day the gate opened again, and the other humans came in and brought food for the humans in the city; but there was enough for the cats and dogs as well. Some cats went home, but many didn't. There had been fires, and not all the homes were still there.

Only one of the new humans came to the cats' park much. He would lounge among the laurel bushes at night and make music, the way the humans did; or he'd light a small hot fire and bang on metal the way humans did. At first, the cats sat in the laurel bushes, their big round eyes glowing in the firelight; but then they came out and warmed themselves by the fire. And finally, the first of them, a small cheeky black tomcat, went to the human to lounge with him when he made music; and when he tried to make music as well, the human laughed at him, the way humans do, and fed him meat to shut him up.

After that, all cats had known that they were welcome with the strange human; they'd lounge by the fire as he was banging on his metal, and he often brought them meat when he returned to the park at night.

The human always wore a black cloak; and if you looked at it from close by, which only very few other humans ever did, there was often pale cat hair on it. There was one other human that came to speak with him and make music with him, quite often; but the cats didn't like him as much as their own human, and never let him touch them.

Then one day both humans had gone to a big party, the way humans have them; and then their human had come back in a great hurry, tossed them an entire roasted duck, picked up all his metal, and left.

And never came back.

And then, the times got really bad again.

Some cats thought they should have gone with their human instead of staying in the park while there was more fire and less food in the city; but that was universally hooted down. Dogs did that sort of thing. Cat's didn't


End file.
